Paypal Receipts for Expenses

CelticStar

I wondered if any of you kind people with good tax knowledge can help me out on a small query.

I have a very small business that I fill in a self assessment tax return for.

Quite a lot of the parts I buy are from eBay and are paid for by Paypal - so I get a Paypal receipt. When the goods turn up they rarely have a printed invoice as well so the Paypal receipts are all I have to prove expenditure.

What I wanted to know is whether I assume the totals don't contain VAT since there are no VAT details on the Paypal receipts.

I'm not VAT registered myself but when I keep a record of my other invoices I break the totals down to goods/services, VAT and total and then enter the goods/services amount on the return (as you can't deduct VAT as an 'expense'. But with these Paypal receipts I have no idea whether the sellers are charging VAT or not.

Could someone just advise me whether I am right in thinking that I don't need to assume they contain a total for VAT.

Many thanks for any help given.

sarah_williams_2

This has given me a great idea ..for my returns ,if its a receipt you should be able to use it ..great thinking !!! :beer:

chrismac1

Firstly, if you are not VAT-registered then you should enter all costs GROSS of VAT and not net. As and when you register, you should then do what you are doing now and enter the net. At the moment, VAT is a genuine business expense to you.

If you ever register, then if you get a receipt with a VAT number on it, claim the VAT. Without a VAT number, what evidence do you have that the supplier is VAT registered and hence has included VAT? So no number, no input tax to claim.